Grossman gives Swing walk-off win
Chris Grossman added the exclamation point, but the Swing of the Quad-Cities punctuated their 3-2 come-from-behind win Sunday night at John O’Donnell Stadium by playing textbook baseball.
With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Grossman clubbed a hit off off the base of the outfield wall in right-center to score pinch runner Willian Sandoval and finish off the Swing rally against Midwest League Western Division leader Beloit.
The loss was just the third in 16 games for the Snappers.
“It’s a good feeling walking up to the plate in that situation,’’ Grossman said. “It’s what every hitter wants. The inning set itself up perfectly, and we earned a win we needed.’’
Grossman’s walk-off hit came after Jared Schweitzer opened the ninth with a double to left.
The Snappers opted to intentionally walk Brandon Buckman, who had opened the seventh with his league-leading 10th home run of the season to tie the game at 2-2.
That brought clean-up hitter Mark Shorey to the plate, and for the first time in his professional career, Shorey bunted for a base hit.
Positioning the ball just out of reach of Beloit pitcher Dan Leatherman and third baseman Danny Valencia to the back side of the mound, Shorey’s second hit of the game loaded the bases for Grossman.
“It’s not something I’ve done a lot of, but it’s something I work hard at all the time,’’ Shorey said. “I’m a professional player, and when I need to get a bunt down, I need to be able to get it down. Everyone did their job, and it worked the way it is supposed to work.’’
Grossman made sure of that.
“I was looking for something to drive to the outfield and drive the run home. At that point, that was the only thing that mattered,’’ Grossman said.
Swing manager Keith Mitchell liked his team’s chances with Grossman at the plate.
“Grossman’s a good contact hitter and a good situation hitter. It looked like (Leatherman) left a pitch a little bit up and Grossman knew what to do with it,’’ Mitchell said. “That was a good piece of hitting.’’
Quad-Cities (26-22) had to rally late because of the work of Snappers pitchers Jeff Manship and Jesus Carnevales, who held the Swing without a hit until Christian Lopez opened the bottom of the sixth with a single up the middle.
“I thought our guys stayed focused and did a good job of staying in the game until we had a chance against their bullpen late,’’ Mitchell said. “Their starter in particular was pretty locked in. He wasn’t going to give us much.’’
An injury forced Manship from the mound in the third inning, but the Swing didn’t begin to rally until the sixth when Jim Rapoport’s single cut in half the 2-0 lead Beloit opened on a pair of run-scoring singles by Allan de San Miguel.
Swing pitcher P.J. Walters gave Quad-Cities a chance, limiting the Snappers (30-16) to three hits over the final four innings.
“We were in the game all night. It was a matter of keeping us close,’’ Walters said. “I knew if I did that, our bats would give us a chance.’’
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.